


The Fires of Hell

by dragonofdispair



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work, Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon-Typical Violence, Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22957672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonofdispair/pseuds/dragonofdispair
Summary: After a desperate, uncontrolledplane shiftspell, the heroes take an unexpected, extraplanar side trip. (A Pathfinder 1st ED adventure for four players of 13th level.)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. Part One: Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Rather than being in pure story format, this is the adventure as written for me to run it for my players. I’m publishing it here so that you can run (as well as alter and adjust) it for your players. Some things to keep in mind: 
> 
> 1) This is written for a good-aligned party. It assumes that your heroes will be motivated to rescue people from the various evil-aligned extraplanar monsters in addition to their other goals. It also assumes that you, and your party, are pragmatic enough to take a quest from a devilish employer as long as it doesn’t require them to commit any evil acts. 
> 
> 2) I won’t be providing monster or item stats in this document. If you’re going to run this adventure and you’re looking for those, consult your books, https://aonprd.com or https://www.d20pfsrd.com . Some of the monsters I used are customized with templates, class levels or both and will need to be reconstructed or replaced. 
> 
> 3) You will also note that I did not include any maps. That’s because the combat locations are pretty simplistic: a waterfall, a caravan camp, an arena, and a manor house. My group plays using a digital map sharing program, and I took advantage of that to give them wide, open combat areas for this adventure in contrast to the cramped caves they’d been exploring in the last. As such, these encounters are designed for a lot of space and few obstacles, and (with the exception of the manor location) can be plunked down on a blank battlemat with no issue. If you still feel the need for more detailed locations, or want to turn the manor/embassy into a proper dungeon, there are some great maps online. 
> 
> 4) My players are very good at this game, very good at teamwork, and very powerful for their level. They have high ACs, high attack ratings, high damage outputs, and a full time healer. They enjoy being challenged, pushed almost to the point of being killed… and reaping the rewards of facing those challenges, both in treasure and XP. With that in mind, these encounters are designed to be very difficult and were set up to tax the party’s resources. If that’s not your group’s jam, lower the difficulty by reducing the number of monsters, breaking up the encounters and allowing them to rest and regain spells (most notably in the gladiator sequence), or replace the monsters with ones with a lower CR. Or wait a few more levels to throw this at your players. 
> 
> 5) Despite this being a Pathfinder module and using that ruleset, this was a Greyhawk based campaign, and I was using the D&D 3.5 Great Wheel cosmology. Many of the details about how the cosmos is put together, the gods, the politics of the planar societies, comes from that setting (plus flavor and info from some old _Planescape_ books I have), _not_ Paizo’s Great Beyond. 
> 
> 6) Text in _italics_ is meant to be read aloud to the players or paraphrased for them. All the rest is for the DM’s eyes only.

After the players have cast their uncontrolled  _ plane shift _ spell (or suffered some other magical mishap of the planar travel variety), start here:

_ Your very self lurches as you go from here to elsewhere in an instant. Heat hits you like a physical thing and you stumble under its oppressive weight. The crackling of countless fires and the roaring of a raging river fills your ears. You can barely open your eyes against the heat, only to see that your hair and fingertips are already starting to burn. _

Deal 3d10 points of damage to all players. Allow them to figure out things like how they’re going to not burn to death before moving on. If they cannot figure out how to not burn to death on this plane, skip the encounter with the Lava Weird and go directly to the slavers, as they will provide protection for their valuable merchandise.

**Note:** That 3d10 damage is  _ ongoing, _ occurring every six seconds of in-game time. If your players aren’t acting in initiative this is a bit of a judgement call, but it does mean that one way or another survival depends on stopping or mitigating this damage somehow. If your players have access to spells like  _ planar adaptation, _ this is doable, but if not they will need the rescue, hence potentially skipping ahead to part two.

**Note:** No spells that interact with the Ethereal or Shadow planes function outside the material plane (a lot of teleportation, and all shadow spells, fall into this category). The Plane of Fire also enhances fire magic (as if affected by the enlarge and maximize metamagic feats) and impedes ice and water magic (caster level check DC 15 + spell level or the spell fizzles and is lost).

**Note:** The players now have the Extraplanar Subtype, while fire, magma and lava elementals, Efreeti, Ifrits, (tieflings and humans born on the plane of fire) and other fire-aligned creatures do not (though the various devils encountered do retain that subtype and many of the gladiator encounters likewise gain it just as the players do). This has no effect on the creatures’ stats, but changes who is affected by spells and abilities that affect creatures with the extraplanar subtype. 

Once they have the chance to look around:  _ The unstable ground beneath your feet is an ever shifting morass of sand, ash and still-burning coals. Flames lick at you from every direction, seemingly fueled by the air itself, which is scorching… almost choking. Heat shimmers and floating ash keep you from seeing what is in the distance. _

_ Despite this, the flaming landscape is beautiful. You have landed at the base of a great cliff of basalt and obsidian, over which flows a river of pure magma, falling like water into a glowing pool of the stuff. Glowing so brightly it is almost white, the firefall lights up everything around it, hitting the pool in a continuous fountain of yellow and orange. Further from the firefall, the pool develops a thin black crust, which wrinkles and cracks from the firefall’s gentle waves, allowing the bright orange and red magma beneath to shine through. _

_ And looking up through the great clouds of smoke and ash, past them you can see a dark tapestry of stars and swirls of light and other weirder things. So reminiscent of a night sky, it’s difficult to comprehend the alienness of what you perceive in those glimpses. Perhaps fortunately, the view is quickly covered again by smoke. _

There IS a portal here back to a location near where they came from. If they somehow figure that out (kn. planes 30, firefalls like this correspond to volcanoes on the material plane. The  _ plane shift  _ spell/other planar mishap probably dropped you here because this was the nearest planar corridor to where you were) and figure out how to protect themselves as they dive into the pool beneath the firefall, they will end up a fire themed location on the Material Plane (preferably a volcano) near the location of the misap that brought them here, essentially allowing them to skip the entire rest of the adventure.

If they wander close to the pool, the lava weird and its dominated elder elemental servant both attack.

**Creatures:**

Lava Weird x1

Elder Fire Elemental x1

**Tactics:** The lava weird doesn’t wander far from its pool. It uses its grab ability to grapple its opponents and drag them into the pool. The fire elemental uses its spring attack feat and high speed to rush in, attack, then retreat before it can be engaged in melee. The elemental attempts to protect the weird at all costs, but if the weird is defeated before the elemental, the elemental retreats as quickly as it can. This still counts as defeating both creatures for XP purposes.

**Loot:** None


	2. Part Two: Slavers

_ The ever-present smoke and ash, and the crackling sound of nearby fires hide the approach of the caravan until it is very near. By the time the smoke parts and you can see them they have gotten very close indeed. Six great gleaming wagons shine the color of gold or brass in the flickering firelight of the plane. They trundle forward on blackened, burned wheels, each drawn by a triceratops the color of flame and ash. Keeping the whole thing on track, red and scaly trolls lead the beasts by iron reins. Others -- human at first appearance -- ride black horses and swarm around the caravan, attending to their tasks. _

_ The caravan master -- a handsome red-skinned humanoid with black hair and glowing yellow eyes -- spots you and breaks off from the group to approach you and asks, in Common, “Can I help you?” _

Using a Feather Token (Grove of Respite) [custom single-use magic item creates a Grove of Respite, as the spell, for eight hours] he will create a safe place for the party to talk and brings the rest of the caravan around to camp (and so they are close if conflict breaks out).

This is Akun, an Efreeti slaver. He has recognized the players as Material Plane adventurers and is interested in capturing them (for reasons that will become apparent later), and is currently in his medium sized, humanoid form. He would much rather capture the party by guile (tricking them into making a wish or request with which he can simply be-spell them into their cages, for example) than by combat. If the players realize this creature is capable of casting both  _ wish _ and  _ plane shift, _ it is possible they could trick him into actually sending them home, but as he is not a bound genie, if he recognizes the trick he is not obligated to help them (unless he can twist it to his own ends of course). 

If combat occurs, he shifts into his larger natural form and the rest of the caravan attendants (Fiendish Trolls and Ifrit Sorcerers) quickly join in the fight.

**Creatures:**

Hostile —

Efreeti x 1 (Akun)

Ifrit Sorcerer lvl 10 x 3

(While building the sorcerers, make sure they have a good selection of buff spells, and some ranks in both Ride and Handle Animal)

Fiendish Trolls x 4*

(Fiendish Trolls are assumed to have the skills necessary to operate the wagons at a +2, even though that isn’t accounted for in their basic stats.)

Neutral — 

Fiendish Triceratops x 8* 

Fiendish Horse x 3*

* These creatures have the Extraplanar Subtype, being native not to the Plane of Fire but to one of the lower planes, probably Baator.

**Tactics:** This is a large, complex fight with a lot of moving parts. If combat commences almost immediately, the triceratops will still be hooked up to the wagons, the trolls may still be in control of those wagons, and the Ifrit sorcerors will still be on their horses, acting as their mounts. Unattended animals have a (50%) chance of stampeding if a spell goes off near them, and a very high (80%) chance if they are hit, of performing a ram, bull rush, or trample attack (as appropriate for the animal and/or vehicle) to anything in front of them. A character using the Handle Animal skill can attempt to handle or push the fiendish animals (the triceratops know the tricks come and stay; the horses know the tricks attack, come, defend, down, guard, and heel) but as fiendish creatures they are immune to spells and abilities that target only animals. A wagon and its two triceratops pullers together count as a Gargantuan vehicle.

The Ifrit Sorcerers avoid casting both fire and ice spells (unless the players have no protection against fire, in which case they cast more fire spells), and focus primarily on buffing the Trolls with spells like  _ Bull’s Strength _ and  _ Bear’s Endurance. _ If they are still mounted, they use the horse’s speed to stay out of melee with the players. If they are not mounted, they still try to avoid melee, but likely less successfully. Ifrit Sorcerers only surrender after Akun is defeated, at which point they shamelessly beg for their lives. 

The trolls are dumb. As soon as combat breaks out, they target the nearest player and wade into melee. If they are in control of the triceratops and wagons, they attempt to ram the players on their first turns (using the driving rules from Ultimate Combat) before climbing off the wagons to fight. If given any order by Akun or the Ifrit Sorcerers, they will attempt to follow that order on their next turn. They fight to the death regardless of the status of their other allies. (Remember to keep track of their regenerate ability.)

Akun keeps his distance and has no problem throwing his minions in the way to protect himself. He primarily uses his spells and spell-like abilities to do damage. He is aware that fire magic is probably not going to be very effective (especially if the players have cast Planar Adaptation on themselves). One way he can get around that is by working together with his minions to use his  _ wish _ ability to cast ice spells. 

**Note:** it can be tempting to use the combo of Akun’s minions plus his  _ wish _ ability to simply  _ wish _ the players into captivity once combat has begun, but I’d very much advise against it. This adventure is written to accommodate either a captured or free party, so there’s no need to piss them off by robbing them of their agency with a DM fiat.

If Akun wins against the players, either by force or guile, he takes their equipment and locks them in brass Slave Collars, which they will wear until they free themselves from them. If the players win against Akun, they gain experience for Akun, the sorcerers, and the trolls. They gain XP for the triceratops only if they played a major role in the battle. They acquire the following loot.

**Loot:** 3 MW haramaki, 3 MW scorpion whips, 1 brass lamp, 20 MW manacles, any other combat gear you gave the sorcs, 16 gp, 2 sp, 5 cp. (Technically the wagons and the triceratops can count as loot, but I don’t suggest framing it as such to make it easier to get rid of them later, or you will have players riding around on fiendish triceratops for the rest of your campaign.) (There’s also about twenty slaves, mostly tieflings, but those aren’t loot either.)

**Note:** Again, it 100% does not matter if the players are captured at this stage. If they are, introduce them to both Arirani, the Oceanid, and Claviger as fellow prisoners (albeit one kept in a tank of water). If they win against Akun and are free, introduce them to Claviger by himself (no Oceanid, no tank of water) as a slave they free, who is grateful for the assistance and agrees to help them get back to where they need to be. He is more than willing to take either the fiendish horses or the fiendish triceratops to convey them to the city.

Either way, they spend a night in the oasis created by the Efreeti and can rest, regain spells, and plan.

Arirani (Oceanid) Description: 

_ This beautiful woman is clad only in sea foam and her long, white hair, which cascades over her body. _

Claviger (Young Astral Deva Rogue 8) Description:  _ This ten year old boy seems uncommonly spry and confident for his age. His mismatched clothing looks to have once been of high quality, but is now patched and threadbare. His face is adorned with freckles and his smile is kind. His short black hair looks to have been tousled in an unseen wind and his eyes are the blue of a clear sky.  _

Once he has his equipment back:  _ A single gold circlet sits on the boy’s head, like a painter’s depiction of a halo. _

**A note on Claviger:** this NPC was originally taken from the book  _ Unusual Suspects _ published by Frog God Games. According to that book, he is a city guide operating in the City of Brass. He has quite a high CR compared to many of the other monsters in this adventure. His job in this campaign is explicitly to guide or arrange for the players to be where they need to be and occasionally to provide the party with a necessary skill or service that they don’t otherwise have access to. As such he is best used sparingly, and it’s preferable for him to do his job offscreen if possible. 

The exception to this offscreen-is-best approach is already written into the adventure. If the players are captured by Akun, Claviger will be with them when the time comes to escape from captivity. This was deliberate on my part. I anticipated that  **MY** players would not have the rogue skills required for escaping their slave collars and their cell, and that at that point in the story they would already be exhausted from their gladiator fights with the prospect of even  _ more _ combat with some powerful devils coming up, and so would appreciate some powerful help against their jailors. If this is not true for your players and you think they can handle the escape on their own, don’t introduce Claviger until after they’ve escaped and they’re wandering the bazaar trying to figure out what’s next.

Whether as slaves or free adventurers, they are taken to the City of Brass.


	3. Part Three: The City of Brass

**Note:** Despite the fact that the rest of the plane of fire is utterly neutral, the City of Brass is mildly evil-aligned and law-aligned. Chaotic and Good characters take a -2 to all Charisma based checks and skills. This stacks with itself, so a Chaotic Good character takes a -4. This applies until the players leave the city and cannot be reduced or removed by any means.

**Note:** The City itself negates the constant fire damage of the plane, so the players do not have to contend with that problem as long as they are inside the gates. Unlike the spell  _ planar adaptation, _ this does not confer any fire resistance against other sources of fire.

##  If captive:

_ The interior of the wagon is oppressively hot, but you are protected from the brunt of the plane’s effect. It is dark, save for the light that shines in through a small, porthole-like window. _

_ You follow the river of magma. For leagues or so it seems. The caravan moves slowly, but steadily. There is no night and no day and so it’s hard to tell how long you are in transit through the endless fires. You are given food -- moistureless hard tack that has burned and blackened almost into charcoal. You are given water, served near to boiling. _

_ Eventually, though, you reach the edge of a great lake of fire. A ship waits at the toll station, and Akun grumbles as he pays for passage across. You are loaded into a ship made of firey brass and red silk.  _

_ The ship moves swiftly over the waves of liquid fire. In the distance you see a hunt of some sort, a trio of brass ships chasing and harrying what looks like a flaming whale. The ferry moves past them too quickly for you to see who prevails.  _

_ At first the glimmer on the horizon looks like the sun and your ship heads right towards it. Soon, though, that illusion is shattered and the “sun” resolves itself into a shining city floating atop the gentle waves of liquid fire. _

_ As the ferry docks and the wagons are unloaded, it appears your buyer is already waiting. Akun exchanges words and coin with a fiend with the shape of an angelic woman, wings stained black. She is dressed in the local style, though you are unable to see the details. As their conversation closes, a large skeletal fiend takes charge of your wagon and you are led away _ .

This is Yadra (Erinyes Bloodrager 5), an unusually business-savvy erinyes. She has been tasked by devils higher ranked than her with an interest in the City of Brass with choreographing and supplying for the extravagant “theater play” that is the climax of the next collection of gladiator games hosted by the Grand Sultan.

Set them up in cells, then skip directly to when Yadra tells them about the gladiator games in part four.

##  If free:

_ You ride across the endless fires, following the river of magma. There is no night and no day and so it’s hard to tell how long you are in transit, but it is not long enough for you to grow tired again. Eventually, though, you reach the edge of a great lake of fire. A ship made of firey brass and red silk waits at the toll station, and Claviger quickly sells your mounts and wagons for passage and to pay for entry into the City.  _

_ The ship moves swiftly over the waves of liquid fire. In the distance you see a hunt of some sort, a trio of brass ships chasing and harrying what looks like a flaming whale. The ferry moves past them too quickly for you to see who prevails.  _

_ At first the glimmer on the horizon looks like the sun and your ship heads right towards it. Soon, though, that illusion is shattered and the “sun” resolves itself into a shining city floating atop the gentle waves of liquid fire. _

_ You disembark in an area that reminds you of the docks in any major port city, if not for the oppressive heat, firey colors, and strange populace. Tieflings, Ifrits and other interplanar mongrels walk side by side devils, Efreeti, salamanders, and dwarf-like beings with flaming manes. Tiny genies and fire elementals both zip through the air, carrying messages or on other errands, and soot-black carrion birds with sharp teeth in their wicked beaks, claws on their wings, and long scaly tails cluster around the rooftops. _

Claviger sets the players up in a nice inn with an innkeeper who owes him a favor. Zened Merces (Human Cleric 1, NPC Codex) runs the Wet Tiger in the Docks district, specializing in non-natives and others who aren’t comfortable in the plane’s oppressive heat (even if the City of Brass negates the constant fire damage). He serves cool mead, reconstituted saltfish and scrambled eggs with onions and carrots, bread, and chilled pumpkin soup. Despite the generally plain fair, buying food here will be quite expensive if the players decide to do that.

For further details on the Wet Tiger, see the Wet Tiger Inn insert. If your players like hanging out in inns, this was designed to be chock full of things to do.

Once they are settled, Claviger explains that he knows of a wizard who can send them home, but that she is unlikely to be moved by anything except extremely powerful artifacts gathered from the edges of the known multiverse, pieces of dead gods, stars contained in bottles, gems made from the tears of a demon in love… or enough money to purchase such things. So he’s going to try and arrange for a friend of his to call in a favor with an acquaintance of his to call in a debt of  _ his _ to convince the wizard to send them home, but just in case this doesn’t work out, they should try and earn some ludicrous amounts of money. He then leaves them at the inn to make his arrangements.

The natural next step is for the players to go to the bazaar at this point to sell off their loot from their last adventure. The City of Brass is an interplanar trading hub, and they can buy and sell anything they want easily. Well… almost anything. Passage back to the material plane isn’t likely for sale.

_ Here, black and gold and red tents almost crowd out the sooty birds for space. Sellers haggle with buyers or call out their wares to passers-by. Mostly you hear people speaking in fire-like crackles, hisses and pops, but you also hear people call out in the barking and screeching of devils, the chittering language of Formians, and even in faint snatches of common and Celestial. They are advertising every possible good, service, or vice, creating a cacophony in which it is almost impossible to understand anything. _

From here they can also find gates to the Noble, Common, and Slave quarters, but are not allowed through. 

If you’d like an example magic shop/tent to roll play and let your players browse, see the Planar Cartography Guild Tent insert.

Let them sell their loot here. There is a buyer for everything they have somewhere in this bazaar. It probably won’t net them enough to buy pieces of dead gods or other similarly esoteric artifacts though. Conveniently, there are advertisements throughout the Bazaar and Docks for adventurers who can pass for mortal races (Tieflings need not apply!) to act as gladiators. The posters promise a large sum of money for each participant who survives. (10,000pp or something ridiculous like that; feel free to adjust this number to something more appropriate for your players and group. Mine were working with a severe gear deficiency which is why the suggested prize value is so high).

Taking a poster to a single office in the corner of the Docks district, run by an extremely irate imp, will lead them to Yadra (Erinyes Bloodrager 5), who -- seeing them -- hires them instantly. 

Describe Yadra like this:

_ In walks a fiend wearing the shape of an angelic woman, wings stained black and dripping blood. She wears a red corset and a long skirt, and there is a musket with a wicked black bayonet affixed to her back. _

If they identify her as an erinyes, continue with,  _ She is unusually beautiful, even for an Erinyes, for she has forwent her kind’s custom of expressing her hatred of her own angelic form by inflicting bruises or other disfigurements on her body. _

She has been tasked by devils higher ranked than her with an interest in the City of Brass with choreographing and supplying for the extravagant “theater play” that is the climax of the next collection of gladiator games hosted by the Grand Sultan. Yadra is an unusually business-savvy erinyes but she’s cut acquiring the requisite adventurers for her show very close to the deadline and is willing to pay large sums of money for people who at least  _ look _ like Material Plane adventurers. She isn’t particularly picky about their skills though. It’s just as good a show if they all die horribly, and -- she says a little more cheerfully -- if they die, she doesn’t have to pay them! 


	4. Insert: The Wet Tiger Inn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do your players like hanging out at the local inn? If so, here's one ready for you to use in any adventure taking place in the City of Brass!

Read or paraphrase the following:

_ Situated on Khadir street in the Docks district, from the outside the Wet Tiger doesn’t appear to be anything special or different. The brassy walls are textured like brick like both the warehouse next to it, and the busy open air cooper’s shop with displays of finished barrels made from copper, brass and iron on the other side. The windows are high and thin and cannot be seen through from the outside. _

_ The gleaming brass sign blends into the buildings, the bright, ever-present firelight of the plane forcing you to squint to see the etched image of a tiger standing in the rain. _

_ Inside, it is still blistering hot, but the color palette has changed. The owner has gone through great lengths to facade the interior with dark hardwood support beams and cool colored stone. The roof appears to be supported by thick, round timbers and the whole space is lit with dim hurricane lamps made of silver and green glass. Most of the light ambient actually shines in from those high, thin windows, which are paned in smoke colored glass. _

_ The waitress — an Ifrit with bright red hair yellow eyes, black scales on her hands and arms, and dressed to show those scales off — is busy with another order, but she acknowledges you with a distracted wave as you walk in. _

_ The walls are adorned with paintings framed in mahogany. They’re all done in a similar enough style that you immediately conclude they were all done by the same artist. He has painted various scenes from around the City of Brass. Keeping with the apparent desire to avoid the red, yellow and orange color palette outside, the colors have been toned down in the paintings, though the artist hasn’t gone so far as to paint any part of the City in blue or green. Instead he has chosen to paint the scenery in various shades of brown and grey.  _

_ Instead of small, individual tables, there are two long tables that go the entire length of the room with benches. Every patron seems to have a different cup. The patrons are mostly tieflings, though there are a few Ifrits, humans, and others as well. It is neither crowded nor sparse, and the customers do seem to be in a good mood. They are clustered either around a pair of tiefling musicians playing a didgeridoo and a violin at one end of the nearest table, or around a pair of dice games near the back of the room.  _ (Fireball [pg 10 of Diceception] or Dungeon [pg 15 of Diceception] or whatever gambling game fits your campaign if they want to try their hands.)  _ The didgeridoo player is sitting cross-legged on the table itself to make room for his instrument which goes all the way to the floor. His scorched-looking feathered wings move to a beat that isn’t apparent in his music. The violin player sits behind him with his long scaled legs hanging off the side of the table. _

_ There is no hearth or fireplace.  _

_ You seat yourself as someone wins the game of dungeon and the cheers momentarily drown out the two musicians. _

_ The waitress is too distracted for long conversation when she comes to take your order. Ordering is simple, “You folks here for meals or just a drink or two?” _

_ Clavinger goes last and orders a meal, then asks to talk to the owner about a room or two for a few nights.  _

_ “Sure thing. Coming right up.” _

The mead, when it’s served, comes in novelty souvenir mugs from around the planes: 

A pearly white tankard made of something that appears to be neither stone nor glass. It is etched with a picturesque mountain trail proclaiming “I climbed to Venya!”

A red clay mug with an intricate map etched all around the outside in a ring pattern. The map connects up with itself so that the pattern has no seam. “Welcome to the City of Doors!” it proclaims.

A dark metal mug painted with a swirling star-scape. You think you recognize some of the constellations. “Outta This World!”

A cup of red and black banded stone cup carved with, “Welcome to Hell. Please sign here: _________ *” On the bottom of the cup, the words, “*Not a legally binding contract. Although if you’re offering…” are carved in tiny letters.

A plain grey clay tankard etched with a tower on a hill in the distance. Several illegible signs dot the path up to the tower. On the closest sign the words, “I got THIS close to Elminster’s tower!” are carved. On the opposite side of the up, the words “Welcome to Shadowdale” are etched in large, fancy letters.

Rooms, when they get them, are upstairs above the common room. They can still hear the didgeridoo and occasional cheer from the dicers vibrating up through the floor. 

There are no paintings here. Otherwise the cool-colored stone and dark hardwood facade continues the theme.

Half of the upstairs area is dedicated to a single, barracks-style room with bunk beds stacked three high. Each bed has a thin feather mattress, a pillow, and a green or blue sheet. A row of chests offer space for people to store their belongings, though they have to provide their own locks. Staying in this room costs 2 gp per night.

For the same price (2 gp), adventurers are allowed to sleep in the stable with their pets (stabling costs 5 sp). The stalls are large enough for one large sized creature each, and the bedding appears to be shredded paper instead of straw. The stables are set up around a small, brass courtyard, which also contains a lavatory and a bathhouse (hot baths in a barrel are only 2 cp!). All three buildings are unlit except by the ambient light of the plane of fire.

The second half of the second floor has the innkeeper and waitress’ rooms, and three small inn suites. Only one is available right now. These rooms cost 4 gp per night and have a large blue rug, two dark leather chests for belongings (provide your own lock), a single night stand, two beds. The beds each have a feather mattress, and a sheet, wool blanket, and quilt in blue or green.

Here’s a sample inn patron:

**Name** Tiefling Bar-goer

**Tiefling CR 0.5**

**XP** 200

Evil Medium Outsider

Commoner level 5 (skill points 15) Commoner

**Init** +1;  **Senses** Darkvision 60; Perception +9

**DEFENSE**

**AC** 14, Touch 11, flat footed 13 ( Studded Leather, Shield, none) 

(+1 Dex, +3 armour) 

**hp** 27 (0d10+5d6+5+5);

**Fort** +2,  **Ref** +2,  **Will** +0 

**Resistance to** Cold 5,  **Resistance to** Electricity 5,  **Resistance to** Fire 5

**OFFENSE**

**Speed** 30

**Melee**

**Single Attack** Improvised weapon (club) +4 (1d6+3) 

**Full Attack**

Club +4 (1d6+3)

**Space** 5ft.;  **Reach** 5 

**Special Attacks**

**Spell-like Abilities**

Spell-like Abilities Darkness 1 per day

**STATISTICS**

**Str** 14,  **Dex** 13,  **Con** 12,  **Int** 12,  **Wis** 8,  **Cha** 7

**Base Attack** 2  **CMB** 4 ;  **CMD** 15 

**Feats**

Alertness: +2 Perception +2 Sense motive,

Catch off Guard: No penalties for improvised melee weapons. Unarmed opponents are flat-footed against any attacks you make with an improvised melee weapon.,

Power Attack: You can choose to take a -1 penalty on all melee attacks and combat maneuver checks to gain a +2 bonus on all melee damage rolls. Every +4 base atack penalty increases by -1 and damage by +2

**Skills** Bluff 0, Climb 6, Craft 5, Handle Animal 2, Perception 9, Profession Farmer -1, Ride 1, Sense Motive 6, Stealth 2, Swim 4

**Languages** Abyssal, Common, Infernal

**ECOLOGY**

**Environment** Temperate plains

**Organization** Solitary, Pair, Gang 3-4

**Treasure** Standard

**MAGIC ITEMS (max value 260)**

  
  



	5. Insert: The Planar Cartography Society tent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are your players the type that like to browse the local magic shops instead of taking their gold and coming back the next game with their new equipment? If so, then here’s a premade magic shop for them to visit while browsing the bazaar district of the City of Brass.

DC 30 Perception to hear the voice hawking “Maps! Gate keys! And other travel necessities! Planning a trip through the infinite planes? Stop here first! Maps! Gate keys! Treasures from the far reaches of the Great Wheel!”

Following the voice, they find the source is a tent wedged between a red and yellow striped tent advertising its selection of fantastical inkpens and a literally gold tent showing off displays of pets ranging from small dogs, cats, and birds to newborn dragon whelps.

The tent they are looking for is comparatively drab, made of plain tan canvas. It contains two hat racks and the walls are lined with plain, utilitarian shelves made of silvery metal filled with sometimes dusty knicknacks. 

When they enter they find a conspicuous but plain wooden door set up against the back wall. It doesn’t appear to go anywhere and the canvas wall of the tent behind it is intact.

The shopkeeper — a skinny tiefling with pointed ears, blue hair, black eyes with no iris or pupil, a pair of curled horns his forehead, and wearing a top hat made from striped fabric designed in vivid blue, purple, light pink, and black — greets the players as they enter. “Finest wares for the finest prices!” He smiles, showing off his long, serrated teeth and pointed blue tongue. This is Cravar Arrice (Male Tiefling Bard (Archaeologist) 10), and he runs the shop. He also is tasked with noting the comings and goings of the Society through the door in the back, and getting any Society visitors oriented here in the City of Brass.

He is aware that many of the things in his inventory are borderline, if not completely, useless. In fact the only reason he sells anything at all is so that the Planar Cartography Society can retain the permits for this space in the bazaar, and thus keep their door into the Infinite Staircase open. Nevertheless, he talks a good game about his wares to any interested parties, doing his best to convince them to buy without outright lying about their nature.

If asked, he has a stack of recruitment pamphlets for the Planar Cartography Society he can hand out. These are sparse on details about the Society, since discovering what the Society is and where they’re located for themselves is one of the challenges a new member needs to pass in order to join. So among large text such as “EXPLORE THE INFINITE PLANES!” and “NEVER GET LOST AGAIN!” the only real useful information the pamphlet has is “All you have to do to join is bring a map of part of a plane or demiplane not already in our archives to the Planar Cartography Society Headquarters, and you’ll gain permanent access to our archives and other perks!”

On one table, next to a display of inks and quills, there is a stack of flyers. These are advertisements for local events in the Grand Sultan’s Coliseum. (If using this with the Fires of Hell adventure, these are Yadra’s help wanted ads for Material Plane adventurers to perform in her gladiatorial display)

**Encounter:** At some point while they’re in there, a squat, aging dwarf wearing a pith helmet comes in. He is overburdened with packs, pouches, and full sacks. He and the shopkeeper nod to each other, and he goes through the door in the back without them exchanging a word. If asked, the shopkeeper says that door is for Planar Cartography Society members only. If asked how they become a member, he tells them that they need to present a map of a plane, part of a plane, or planar connection previously unknown to the Society at their main base camp. He does not tell them where the main base camp is. (Which is the same information present on the pamphlets he has.)

(If somehow the players decide to try going through this door themselves, it opens into an image of Escher’s Relativity — multitudes of stairs going in every direction and connected in impossible ways. Give them a chance to just close the door, if they don’t and decide to go through it they will find themselves on the Infinite Staircase, the home plane of the Planar Cartography Society. Since the Infinite Staircase doesn’t change, there IS a set route from here to the actual Planar Cartography Headquarters, which occupies several landings of the staircase. However, without a map or directions, the staircase might as well be random. Doors open up to different planes and demiplanes. This would obviously be the starting point for a new, entirely planar, adventure.)

##  Shop wares:

Yes, he will sell them as many plain, un-attuned, tuning forks as they want (25 gp each). He also has several attuned to the Astral Plane and Outlands (100), two attuned in the City of Malagard on the seventh layer of Baator (no guarantee they’ll drop them in the City) and one to the Dreamscape of Anavaree (2,000 gp), one to the near mythical World Serpent Inn (20,000), and even one to the Observatorium (priceless).

He has no tuning forks attuned to the Material Plane. He explains that they won’t find such a thing here in the City of Brass. Trade agreements with the Seven Mounting Heavens and with Baator forbid the sale of items that facilitate direct access to the Material, and as most of the inhabitants don’t need tuning forks, the Grand Sultan keeps this agreement. Anyone caught selling such a thing is immolated immediately.

**Other Items for Sale:**

**Note:** In addition or instead of these items, feel free to insert any gear, equipment, or magic items you feel your players would find useful.

There is a  **map of Sigil** , rolled up in a scroll case for sale for 100 gp. Cravar will not let them open it before buying it. It shows the streets and buildings of only a few neighborhoods.

He does sell a large number of other  **maps of various planar locations** . Each is for sale (sight unseen) for 200+3d% gp

**A single case** (small 1 ft x 1 ft x 1 ft with a silver handle, hinges and latch, made of metallic pink cloth with a rose pattern embossed all over it) of ten random, unidentified potions (packed in straw that has been dyed pink), which he will sell to the players for 600 gp. He will only sell them as a set. He is willing to let them examine them, but doesn’t want them using magic to identify them here in his shop. He also warns that this batch has resisted identification.

[Potion of Jump] The bubbling substance that is gray with gold glows. It smells like cream, but tastes like carrots and cucumber. It is in a 4 in tall, teardrop shaped bottle with a mid-length neck made from translucent aquamarine glass. It has a simple, printed label of gibberish (DC 50 Linguistics “Consume. One Dose.”)

> [Potion of Cure Serious Wounds] The bubbling, slimy draught that is violet in color. It smells like salt water and fish, but tastes like licorice. It is in a 1 in tall, square bottle with a mid length neck made from dark rose colored glass. It has a simple, handwritten label that says “Mistake No 3,416” in Abyssal.
> 
> [Potion of Haste] The glowing, viscous mixture that is green with violet streaks. It smells like candy, but tastes like spice. It is in a 2 in tall, square bottle with a short neck made from opaque, smokey rose colored glass. It has an embellished label that reads “Second Star to the ocean” in Protean.
> 
> [Potion of Delay Poison] The transparent substance that is gold in color. It smells like blueberries, but tastes like vegetables and ashes. It is in a 9 in tall, thin pear-shaped bottle with a long neck, made from opaque pink glass. It has a simple handwritten label that says “Cure” in Common.
> 
> [Potion of Protection From Arrows (100 points)] The viscous elixir that is beryl with white flecks. It smells like acorns and sugar, but tastes like raw meat and caramel. It is in a 2 in tall, coffin shaped bottle with a short neck, made from translucent bright green glass. It has a simple label reading “Do not—“ in Sylvan.
> 
> [Potion of Nondetection] The boiling elixir that is orange with amber specks. It smells like bananas and lettuce, but tastes like wine. It is in a 3 in tall, pear shaped bottle with a long neck, made from opaque electric blue glass. It has a colorful label with plants drawn on it.
> 
> [Oil of Keen Edge] The bubbling, transparent, viscous tonic that is crimson in color. It smells like salt and blueberries, but tastes like butter and bread. It is in a 3 in tall, round bottle with a long neck made of opaque green glass. It has a simple label of gibberish (DC 50 linguistics “Do Not Drink”).
> 
> [Potion of Cure Serious Wounds] The glowing, slimy liquid that is pearl with azure accretions on the side. It smells like raspberries, but tastes like licorice. It is in a 1 in tall, cylindrical bottle with a mid length neck, made from transparent purple glass. It has no label.
> 
> [Potion of Rage] The slimy liquid that is cobalt in color. It smells like vomit and bananas, but tastes like ginger and wine. It is in a 5 in tall, coffin shaped bottle with a long neck, made from translucent magenta glass. It has an embellished, handwritten label reading “Rage” in Ignan.
> 
> [Potion of Fly] The chunky substance that is vermillion in color. It smells like green pepper, but tastes like strawberries and grass. It is in a 1 in tall, square bottle with a mid length neck, made from transparent amber glass. No label.

One one shelf, there is  **a display of seven stones** on iron wire stands in a glass case:

> Clear Spindle Ioun Stone - flawed (2,000 gp) : Sustains a creature without food but must drink twice the normal amount of water
> 
> Dark Blue Rhomboid Ioun Stone - cracked (400 gp) : +1 competence bonus on perception and sense motive checks
> 
> Gamboge Nodule Ioun Stone - flawed (40,000 gp) : Immunity to poison, -4 penalty on saves against curses and diseases
> 
> Mulberry Pentacle Ioun Stone (10,000) : +5 competence bonus on bluff and diplomacy
> 
> Orange Prism Ioun Stone (30,000 gp) : +1 caster level
> 
> Pale Orange Rhomboid Ioun Stone - cracked (1,800 gp) : Can be used as a material component when casting a spell that brings the wearer back to life, reducing the cost of that spell by 20%
> 
> Amethyst Crescen Ioun Stonet (70,000 gp) : fast healing 2 to its wearer as well a +4 circumstance bonus on saving throws against negative energy and death effects.

He also advertises a wide array of  **gate keys to known gates in Sigil** . The use of Plane Shift he explains, is forbidden in the City of Doors. The Lady of Pain punishes its use quite severely. But if the players are looking for a way back to the Material, they can’t go wrong by plane shifting to Outlands near Tradegate or one of the other portal towns, taking a portal back to Sigil, then onward to the Material!

The gate keys are in a box that says “Sale! Fantastic Discount for One Day Only! 10 gp each or ten for 50 gp! Wow! What a Deal!”

If asked why the sale, Cravar reluctantly explains that there’s a turf war going on in Sigil right now and so he can’t guarantee the gates these are keyed to will remain intact and unlocked. 

The box is filled with random items, each attached to a paper tag by a string that describes the gate in Sigil and what location it goes to. Some examples are: 

> Feather Token Whip. The tag reads “Inside The Icky Mango Tavern, there is a door made of Teak and Pewter, distinguished by deep fingernail scratches that gouge the wood almost through, which leads to the City of Tunarath on the Astral Plane” DC 35 kn. the planes to know that is the largest and grandest Githyanki City.
> 
> Sponge. The tag reads “Set in an stone archway in the street outside The Agreeing Quill, there is an Iron door with water seeping from under it, which leads to the top floor of the Caratown Shore Lighthouse located on Belieria.” DC 25 kn. the planes to know that is the second layer of Elysium.
> 
> A golden locket with a tiny portrait of a child inside. The tag reads “In the basement of the Path Of Joy Wellness Center, there is a door framed by two caryatid columns. The door itself is made from a crouching stone golem, which is most argumentative but ultimately harmless and will not bar your way. There are many human shaped outlines charred onto this door — do not attempt to open without a key. This door opens into the interior of Aurora’s Whole Realms Shop Catalogue Counter in the City of Waterdeep on the Material Plane.” DC 17 kn. geography to realize their world has no Waterdeep.
> 
> A kitchen knife. The tag reads “In an archway in the street outside The Starlight Grill, there is a clear glass door. A holy symbol to St Cuthbert hangs from the doorknob. This door leads to the front gate of the Fortress of Disciplined Enlightenment on Mechanus.”
> 
> Teacup. The tag reads “At the end of the alley next to the Inkspire tattoo parlor there is a most ominous door made of bloodwood and brass. A sign hangs from it which is either blank or reads ‘management’ in orcish. Do not open this door when the sign is blank. When properly used, this door leads you to the front gate of Castle Mahlhevik in the Seven Mounting Heavens.”

(As DM, feel free to create as many of these as you like going to wherever you need them to go. If your game is based out of Sigil, this is a cheap and relatively easy way to get around, but if Sigil isn’t their home, these are wilding inconvenient.)

One set of shelves contains only  **books** . 

There is a whole shelf of copies of  _ The Planar Adventurer’s Guide to Plane Shift _ by Lagnar Anviltooth, published by the Planar Cartography Society (100 gp per copy). In it the author describes the practical applications of using Plane Shift to get around the planar landscape, where and how to attune tuning forks to planar destinations, and laws and common etiquette in each plane regarding the use of the Plane Shift spell. Tell them how to attune tuning forks to a plane as described in the Pathfinder  _ Planar Adventurer’s Guide. _ (This book is intended to give otherwise clueless players access to the ruleset on how to use the  _ plane shift _ spell.)

All the other books on the shelves are useless (200 gp each). Here’s a sample: 

_ The Wizard’s Big Book Of Potion Making! _

The first page reads: 

> To brew a silence potion, gather the following ingredients and follow the steps closely and with great attention to detail.
> 
> \- 1 heap of Black Blossom
> 
> \- 1 teaspoon of Wild Clove
> 
> \- 1 cup of Dream Savory
> 
> \- 2 tablespoons of Fire Dill Seed
> 
> \- 3 teaspoons of Swamp Lavender
> 
> Crush the Black Blossom with whatever you can find and put it in a container. Add a dash of preboiled water to turn it into a creamy emulsion, then add the Wild Clove in small amounts at a time.
> 
> Fill a pan with purified water, add the mixture and gently warm up the mixture. Cuddling is an option, but the stove works better. Let it cool down to the body temperature of a reptile before adding the Dream Savory and Fire Dill Seed, just throw it all in there, show them who's boss.
> 
> Bring everything back to a boil, turn of the heat, mix in the Swamp Lavender and let everything cool down. If you touch the liquid and it burns you, it hasn't cooled down enough.
> 
> Remove the impurities floating at the surface with a spoon. Your potion is ready to be used. Only a droplet is needed for the potion to take effect. If you made a lot you can store leftovers in oblivion.
> 
> Recipe by Professor Wernstrom.

The other recipes in the book are just as nonsensical. 

_ A Jabberwock's Bodily Humors _

This book is easily understandable due to incredibly well-done and helpful illustrations. This clarity allows one to determine that it has no useful information.

Examining the book, one will find: Some notes, in some kind of code, on one page, that have nothing whatsoever to do with the book's contents. Cravar is unaware of the notes or their contents. (Feel free to make these read whatever is most useful for your campaign.)

_ Current Studies of A Basilisk's Methods of Locomotion _

This book is very easy to understand mostly due to extensive references. It's easy to determine that it has little useful information.

_ Child-Rearing Habits of the Basilisk and the Griffin: Unexpected Dissimilarities _

This book is very clear due to the good diagrams. This clarity allows one to determine that it has no useful information.

_ Transformations for Sorcerers _

This book is of above-average clarity due to the good references. It's easy to determine that it has a lot useful information. Despite its good traits, the contents seem to have been stolen from another work.

Examining the book, one will find: Some personal notes unrelated to the book, on several concurrent pages. A map in some kind of code can be found stuck haphazardly into the book. Again, Cravar is unaware of these inserts or their contents. (DMs feel free to use them however you wish.)

_ The Famous Alchemists of the State _

This book is muddled mostly due to the poor diagrams. With some work, a person can make sense of the book, which will reveal it is extremely informative. One will also find that the ideas within make you see things differently.

_ A Treatise on Advanced Wizardry _

This book is all but impossible to understand thanks to there being no coherent organization whatsoever. If, by chance or skill, someone can unriddle the book, that person will find it has no useful information. To make things worse, one will eventually discover that the contents are original.

_ The Dietary Habits of Pegasi: A Study _

This book is muddled beyond belief thanks to having an author that was apparently suffering from mental illness. If someone somehow manages to make sense of it, they will find it is reasonably useful. After a quick examination, one will find that the contents are less than original.

There is one shelf of  **“rare” plants** from around the planes: 

Valley Apple, aka The Disporum Alopecuroides is an uncommon, huge plant and can be found only near sea dunes on The Boundless, a demiplane of oceans and crystal islands and which can only be visited twice by any single person. It blooms once a year, for 3 weeks. It has thin, oval leaves, which are usually light green. It also grows small flowers, which can be pink, dark yellow and red. These plants grow in small groups, but it's tough to control and maintain their growth. They can be dried and used in cooking. As a defense mechanism the Disporum Alopecuroides mimics the overall look of a different, poisonous plant. They rely on water currents to carry their seeds away to reproduce. Once pollinated, they grow small, inedible nuts. (5,000 gp)

Wall Milkweed, aka The Deparia Asarifolia is an extremely common, tall plant and can be found in mats of seaweed on the Ghost Sea, a spiritual, ethereal ocean which is the final resting place for whales from an isolate Prime Material World. The plant blooms twice a year, for 3 weeks. It has huge, pointed leaves, which are usually dark orange. It also grows small flowers, which can be dark purple, light pink and pink. These plants grow in small numbers, but it's challenging to control and maintain their growth. They can be used to treat wounds. As a defense mechanism the Deparia Asarifolia can collapse its flowers when it detects vibrations. They rely on water currents to carry their seeds away to reproduce. Once pollinated, they grow fairly large, delicious fruits. (4,000 gp)

Prickly Sunflower Nettle, aka The Cypredium Thunbergiana is a common, giant plant and can be found in the mountains of Bytopia. It blooms once a year, for 3 weeks. It has tiny, paired leaves, which are usually pine green. It also grows tiny flowers, which can be light blue, white and silver. These plants grow in decent numbers, but it's extremely easy to control and maintain their growth. They can be used as an energizer when eaten. As a defense mechanism the Cypredium Thunbergiana grows stinging hairs, like a nettle. They rely on winds to carry their seeds away to reproduce. Once pollinated, they grow fairly large, inedible nuts. (1,000 gp)

The hat racks contains a variety of  **ridiculous, non magical hats** , which Cravar insists are all the rage in Sigil — the ultimate trend setter of all the planes! For emphasis, he tilts the blue zebra striped hat he is wearing. (Hats are 50 gp each) Some examples are:

A wide-brimmed sun hat is made from orange and vivid purple zebra-stripe print fabric.

A top hat is made from purple and black zebra-stripe print fabric.

A narrow-brimmed wizard hat is knitted from dark gray yarn.

A top hat is made from red and black zebra-stripe print fabric. It is accented with a coordinating pink ribbon band.

A chef’s hat is woven from white, gray, and pastel yellow straw.

Buried in the dust among the  **other knick knacks** are some  **truly valuable artifacts** :

Sun Orchid Elixir (80,000 gp)

An ornate clear, diamond shaped bottle with flowers etched into the glass sits on one shelf behind a collection of other random bottles. It is unlabeled and has a pearly glass cork shaped like a blooming rose. The liquid inside is gold colored and shimmers like starlight, like it has flecks of light suspended inside. Opening the bottle, it smells faintly floral. When drunk, it is tangy and sweet, citrusy, floral and alcoholic. 

Dark Grimoire (10,000 gp)

Buried in a pile of other books, this heavy grimoire is bound in leather and has wicked looking clasps. It is a heavy, substantial text, over 1,000 pages.

Deck of Many Things (1,000 gp)

Pawing through the crates of gate keys and other junk, you find a simple deck of cards in a red velvet pouch. Cravar is aware that the cards are magic, but not aware of their true nature (which is why the price is so low).


	6. Part Four: Gladiators

##  If captive:

_ Your cell, one of many identical cells in a long block, probably would be more comfortable if it was dark and dank. Instead the air is stifling hot and stagnant. The iron floor and bars are red hot to the touch, and the stone sleeping slab only slightly cooler. You are fed a gruel made from burned cereal and lumps of charred fat.  _

_ The cells open into a corridor wide enough to accommodate several large creatures walking side by side, while the far wall of each sports a small window through which you can see the wide, gleaming, coliseum floor. _

Let them rest and recover.

_ It is not a quiet night. You hear the groans and growls, hisses, and shouts of unseen monsters or other gladiators throughout the night. You sleep, and awake to the arrival of servants and slaves coming to decorate the coliseum for the festivities. Red dwarflike beings with firey manes, tieflings, and Ifrits dressed in sheer pants and bare chests string up streamers of red and gold silk, bright white lanterns, and gold banners around the coliseum floor, and work on their hands and knees to polish the brassy floor itself like a mirror. _

_ A door opens somewhere, and your new owner stops in front of your cages, flanked by two bony devils. A fiend wearing the shape of an angelic woman, her wings are stained black and dripping blood. She wears a red corset and a long skirt in the local style, and there is a musket with a wicked black bayonet affixed to her back. _

If they identify her as an erinyes, continue with,  _ She is unusually beautiful, even for an Erinyes, for she has forwent her kind’s custom of expressing her hatred of her own angelic form by inflicting bruises or other disfigurements on her body. _

##  If free:

_ You are told to stay close as you are escorted through the shining gates into the Noble Quarter. Yadra leads the way impatiently, while four bone devils surround you.  _

_ Torches flicker, lining the streets and casting light and shadows against the grand brass residences, despite the ever-burning light of the plane itself. Every crossroad sports a rotunda with an elaborate fountain of liquid fire in the center, within which swim fish-like creatures made of metal and fire. And in the distance, towering over even the grandest of noble houses, the polished brass domes and finials of the Grand Sultan’s palace practically glow like the sun. _

_ Compared to the noisy bazaar, the golden streets of the Noble Quarter are quiet. Here, giant Efreeti in red and orange finery, dripping with rubies and yellow diamonds, travel the streets and go about their business in palanquins carried by slaves. They are attended to by entourages of lesser genies, salamanders, or elementals. There is only the occasional devil, besides your escort, and even fewer of the planar mongrels so common in the bazaar and docks. _

_ You are led to a simply grand coliseum. Made of -- what else? -- brass, it sits astride the wall between the Noble and Commoner quarters. _

_ You are installed in a modest sized room in the labyrinthine bowels of the coliseum. Comfortable red couches give you a modest view of the coliseum floor, while a table at the center is spread out with refreshments of charred meats, crisped cheeses, and boiling wine. _

_ There is even a bed in one corner of the room. Veiled in a canopy of sheer red silk, there are red-hot iron manacles attached to the frame and nestled in the red sheets. You are offered the use of another slave for your entertainment. _

_ Your modest view of the coliseum floor right now shows humanoids -- red dwarflike beings with firey manes, tieflings, and Ifrits -- busy with the decoration, stringing red streamers up everywhere or polishing the brassy floor itself until it shines like a mirror. _

##  Both:

Yadra explains the upcoming fight like this: 

_ “Your job,” Yadra says, “is quite simple: follow the cat and try not to die too quickly. Once you’re out on the floor, you will not be able to leave until you’ve defeated the last of your opponents. Until then, go ahead and enjoy the show. Oh, and don’t bother with mercy.” She flashes you a wicked smile and saunters off, humming to herself. _

_ The start of the festivities is announced shortly afterwards with trumpets. You hear the cheering of the crowd. Announcements in at least three different languages (Ignan, Infernal, Draconic, or DC30 Linguistics to understand) echo across the excited crowd. _

_ “Welcome Ladies, Gentlemen, and Beings of Indeterminate Gender! You are guests of the Grand Sultan as he presents to you this evening’s most exciting entertainment! Be amazed and astonished by these wonders gathered from all across the known plains! First and foremost, we have brought here for your awe and amusement a pair of-- ” _

_ A rumbling echoes through your bones, and you see the mirror-bright floor of the coliseum open up down the middle and two gleaming silver  _ **_airships_ ** _ float up. _

_ “--Githyanki Astral Carracks to do battle right here in the Coliseum of the Grand Sultan!” _

_ And so it continues in that vein. Once the ships finish their battle and land -- barely damaged, you notice, despite their flashy battle -- the floor closes over them and a lone genie gladiator steps out to battle a humongus, tentacled creature that seems faintly translucent and shadowy, and which the announcements gleefully call an otyugh from the Plane of Shadow. A small squad of Ifrits battles against a massive pyrohydra.  _

_ Walls and a ceiling of pure force are erected so that a red dragon in shimmering purple armor and claw sheaths steps out onto the floor. “Tyrsyth the warrior,” the announcements introduce him, “will now battle against one of the greatest dangers of the Material Plane! The Color Out Of Space! It dwells in the voids between stars and consumes all life,” the announcer says gleefully. From a Telekinetic sphere, an ooze of light so mind-twistingly difficult to look at you can’t even describe it later is released into the ring. The dragon falls on it with warded teeth and claws and a mind-boggling number of magic missiles, while the announcer gleefully describes the horrific life and planet-consuming life-cycle of a Color Out Of Space.  _

_ There are also executions (burned at the stake, of course), marching bands, and dances. In the middle of one such display of a hundred Janni dancing with silk veils, you are led out of your room (or cages) and into a preparation area. _

_ As soon as you’re ready and the Janni performers have vacated the ring, Yadra and her guards practically shove you out onto the coliseum floor. “Remember: don’t die too quickly, and be entertaining when you do!” she tells you cheerfully as the gates slam closed behind you. _

_ “Our final presentation is brought to the coliseum by Bel, Lord of the First layer of Hell! Remember, the Blood War still rages and Hell’s army is always recruiting…” _

_ A translucent forest of pine trees -- slightly stylized, as if the illusionist responsible only knew of pine trees from paintings -- has been erected on the floor. The announcements begin with “Once upon a time… four great adventurers -- from the Material Plane of course! -- were hired to rescue a princess from the evil wizard Zorath. And here are our adventurers now! Brufrer Graybrand the fighter! Groodrir Hornjaw the wolf rider! Bobacla of the Wildlands! And Shalendra the Elven Mage!  _ (add or remove names/alter descriptions to vaguely resemble and theatrically describe your party)  _ Our intrepid heroes have a problem though: they don’t know where the princess has been taken. Fortunately! The princess’ familiar has escaped captivity and has been looking for them! But so have the wizard’s servants...” _

_ A door across from you opens and a small cat darts out, with a bear-sized wolf with white fur and a rime of frost around its muzzle right on its tiny heels. The wolf’s eyes are pale blue, almost white in color and gleam with hatred… and as the cat runs toward you, more gates open along the far wall of the ring, releasing more wolves. _

_ Above you, dramatic music plays. _

Yes they get theme music. Give them the effects of an Inspire Courage.

Knowledge check DC 15 to potentially identify the Winter Wolves, then roll initiative.

**Creatures (listing out everything they will encounter in this initiative roll, though they will be somewhat spaced out):**

Allied —

Clockwork Familiar

Hostile — 

Winter Wolves x 10 (or more)

Hungry Fog x1

Hangman’s Tree x2

Gallows Tree x1

Thunderbird x1

Clockwork Cat -  _ This tiny metallic creature is shaped like a cat, gears and belts whirring beneath its shining, articulated plates. _

**Tactics:** The cat mostly tries to stay out from underfoot. Its primary job is to lead the players to the different parts of the arena as the floor retracts, staircases appear and disappear, etc. 

The winter wolves are vicious and starving, but intelligent. They swarm the players and attempt to flank, making prolific use of their breath weapon when possible. They fight intelligently, but to the death. (If you wish, you can describe their emaciated state).

Once the players defeat the winter wolves, the announcer continues with his nonsensical story.

_ “The forest quickly gives way to dark, dank swamp covered in mist!” he says, and the ground opens up, releasing a fetid, rotting stench. The cat quickly darts over to a platform which stays in place as the rest of the floor moves, eventually revealing a staircase down into an illusory swamp. The cat darts down this staircase and disappears into the mist. The music changes to something soft and almost creepy, filled with anticipation. _

Now they encounter the Hungry Fog and the hungry flora. 

Hungry Fog (DC 16 kn. Dungeoneering to identify) --  _ Horrid shapes form within this cloying green mist, which pulses sporadically and with seeming voracity. _

Hangman tree x2 (in pots) (DC 17 kn. Nature to identify) --  _ This sinister tree looms above a field strewn with bones. Numerous leafy vines, their tips looped into nooses, hang from its branches. _

Gallows tree (also in a pot) (DC 23 kn. Nature to identify; if they fail the check they misidentify it as a third Hangman Tree) --  _ This creature appears as a massive, tall tree with thick branches from which hang several humanoid corpses tightly secured by their necks with greenish-brown ropes. Its canopy is thick and bushy, and its trunk is mottled brown. _

**Tactics:** The Hungry Fog goes directly to the players, using the mist as cover, and attacks them. The trees use their abilities to try and lure the players close enough to attack then try to ensnare them. The trees are potted, and therefore lack their land speed, even though they have one in their stats. As such it’s easy to stay away from them. All four creatures fight to the death (though the trees are unable to follow if the players retreat from them.)

Once they either defeat all four creatures, or a minute (ten rounds) passes with them avoiding the potted horrors, the cat reappears and leads them back up the staircase, the steps of which retract back into the wall beneath them, and the whole “swamp” is covered in illusory mist. 

_ The announcer babbles on about the intrepid heroes having to climb a great cliff full of dangerous monsters, and an irate thunderbird is released into the arena with a dramatic clash of cymbals while you are on a series of staircases and narrow ledges that circumvent the coliseum floor. _

Thunderbird --  _ This enormous bird has feathers the color of a stormy sky, a resemblance enhanced by the lightning that dances over its body. _

**Tactics:** the Thunderbird keeps its distance, using its winds, control weather ability, and lightning bolts to attack. It is initially focused on the crowd of spectators, but it is unable to escape the arena or attack anyone not on the arena floor, due to the magical force field holding it in. It only turns its attention to the players once attacked. It is an intelligent creature, and can be negotiated with with a high enough diplomacy check, though it speaks no languages which will make talking to it difficult.

If the players do negotiate with it (using telepathy or another spell that confers mutual understanding), it begs them for help escaping from Yadra and its captors. Grant the players XP as if it was defeated. The gladiator exhibition will have to pause as Efreeti and Devils come in to recapture the Thunderbird and set up for the next encounter. 

Once the thunderbird is defeated or hauled away, they are given a solid ground again to stand on, and they find that the “swamp” has been swapped out for a forest with a road and a wooden structure in the middle of the arena. 

_ “Exhausted by their journey through the wilderness, these Material Plane adventurers find respite at a small inn along the road.” _

And yes, when they open the door to the structure, they find it has been built into an “inn” of sorts, albeit one without a roof. Inside, a long table has been laid out with food almost too delicious-looking to be real.

This is a Heroes’ feast, and they only need a taste to feel the effects. If needed, this can also give them the effects of a full night’s rest, including regaining spent spells (though not switching out new ones, they are effectively reset back to that morning). If the encounters have been easy so far and they’ve taken no damage, then it’s just a normal heroes’ feast. 

The announcer describes (in embarrassingly intimate detail) the process of going to bed, and the music changes to a lullaby. DC 16 Will save not to fall asleep.

_ As you try to resist the magid woven into the music, or succumb to it, you are warned of the impending by the the excited note in the announcer’s voice. He tells the audience how “soldiers from the wizards army!” set fire to the inn in the night an instant before the “inn” goes up in flames with a  _ **_fwooosh!_ ** __

_ Beyond the flaming walls, you see figures in sooty armor advance. _

The inn really is burned down while the players must fight off four Terra Cotta Soldiers. The music changes back to dramatic though they don’t get their Inspire Courage back (it wouldn’t stack with the effects of the Hero’s Feast anyway).

**Creatures in this initiative:**

Allied -- 

Clockwork Familiar

Hostile -- 

Terra Cotta Soldier x 4

Clockwork Dragon x 1

Clockwork Mage x 1

Caryatid Columns x 4

Oceanid x 1 or Claviger 

Terra Cotta Soldier -  _ This perfectly sculpted, finely detailed, life-sized clay figure has a look of fierce determination and a sword clenched in each hand. _

**Tactics:** The Terra Cotta Soldiers stay adjacent to at least one other soldier. They ignore the fire, and even attempt to herd the players back into it, as they attack in a very straightforward manner. They fight to the death. 

After defeating the Terra Cotta Soldiers, the clockwork cat leads the party to the edge of the arena, just in time for the announcer to describe an end to their harrowing search for the wizard’s tower. The arena floor opens up, and a tower a hundred feet high is pushed up through the center, rotating as it moves into place. A winding staircase circumvents the exterior and as soon as it locks in place, the clockwork cat starts running up the stairs.

The giant wings of a dragon unfold over the top of the tower, and the beast launches itself into the air.

Clockwork Dragon -  _ Made from gleaming metal and countless complex cogs and gears, this draconic creature has the presence of a dangerous killing machine. _

If they don’t move up onto the staircase, the floor opens up beneath them and steaming hot clouds billow out, causing damage and forcing them onto the tower.

**Tactics:** The Clockwork Dragon flies to stay ahead of the players. It uses its breath weapon on the players as much as possible, landing on the staircase around the tower to attack the players only when it needs to recharge it, always staying ahead/above them. It focuses all of its attacks on a single target each round, but changes targets the next round. When its breath weapon has recharged, it takes off to fly again, positions itself to catch as many players as it can in the blast, then lands further up the staircase to engage in melee again. It charges the players and uses its self-destruct ability as soon as it has been reduced to 10% of its maximum hit points.

Once they reach the top (whether they’ve defeated the dragon or not, though it will be very hard to do so without killing it) they find the mage and the princess, surrounded by beautifully carved columns shaped like women. (If they are captives, the “princess” is Claviger in a dress. If not, she is Arirani the Oceanid.)

Clockwork Mage -  _ This faceless construct has a crystal wand set into its chest, bristling with arcane energy. _

Caryatid Columns -  _ With its feet planted firmly together, this marble statue of a female warrior holding a stone sword rises up to support the ceiling. _

**Tactics:** The Clockwork Mage keeps its distance from the players as much as possible, pelting them with its spells. It favors flashy evocation spells. It focuses either on the PC’s spellcaster, or on any animal companions the PCs have. It fights to the death.

The caryatid columns do their best to protect the clockwork mage at all times. They fight to the death.

Oceanid -  _ This beautiful woman is clad only in sea foam and her long, white hair, which cascades over her body _

**Tactics:** The Oceanid, if she is present, has no tactics, being unconscious, but is part of the initiative because there is a timed challenge associated with her.

**Loot:** There is no loot directly gained from the gladiator matches. 

At the conclusion of the battle, the announcer gleefully relays that the evil wizard Zorath has been defeated, but he has left a final enchantment on the princess that can only be broken by a kiss.

##  If captive:

Claviger is just pretending to be asleep and wakes as soon as any of the players lean over him and doesn’t wait to be kissed. He uses the few minutes of cacophonous cheers from the audience at the performance to convince the players to escape and promises that he knows someone who can help get them home.

##  If free:

Arirani is under the effect of a stasis spell and will awaken when kissed. Once she is awakened, though, she has only a few minutes to live unless the players can figure out how to get her into some water (the evil aligned Efreeti and Devils that make up the bulk of the audience will think this is quite funny). She begs them for help until she is either saved or succumbs to asphyxiation. 

After their ordeal, regardless of their freedom status and whether or not they have a living “princess” with them, they’re offered a nice room at the hellish embassy and the company of a slave as a reward for doing well. 


	7. Part Five: Escaping the Embassy of Baator

##  If captive:

_ You are once again stripped of your gear and loaded up into a wagon along with Claviger, which is drawn through the streets by fiendish minotaurs. Taken from the coliseum, you are all deposited in the black halls of hell’s embassy.  _

_ “That was a masterful performance. You’ve earned a reward,” Yadra cackles as you are installed in a guest room dominated equally by a large, four poster bed bedecked in black, silk sheets and a huge portrait of Asmodeus, whose painted eyes glow with judgement and menace. _

##  If free:

The party can either attempt to negotiate with Yadra for ownership of Arirani if they successfully saved her, or leave her to her fate. Either way, describe the embassy and the room they’re led to:

_ This is the first building you’ve seen that isn’t the same overpoweringly bright brass and gold the rest of the city is. That would be more of a comfort, perhaps, if it weren’t a dark, oppressive black stone. Hell’s embassy resembles a cathedral, with spires and buttresses that do not care how out of place they are here. Sharp angles and spikes gleefully drip with menace.  _

_ Heavy, double iron doors stained with blood open to admit you. _

_ Inside, it is blessedly cool  _ (this does not remove the fire-dominant trait of the plane) _ , but also fetid and heavy with the scent of fear and pain. The black marble floor is veined with red, and black iron torches and a chandelier adorned with humanoid heads both light the room with flickering purple flame. Portraits of evil kings and devil lords adorn the walls, and their eyes seem to follow you as you move. _

_ A long queue of genies and humanoids winds through the room, looking wrung out and hollow as they wait for their turn to approach the huge, black iron receptionist’s desk. The receptionist itself is an imp, blithely filing its bright pink painted claws as it ignores the person talking to it.  _

_ The potted rosebush blooming with cheerful pink, red, and white flowers on the corner of the desk snaps at the supplicant’s fingers with a long, thorny tendril. _

Following Yadra, there is no reason for them to approach the desk. If they do, the Imp ignores them and the plant proves decidedly unfriendly. It snaps at them with its thorny tendrils, but is no real danger to such a high level party and combat is only initiated if the players draw weapons.

**Creatures:**

Hostile --

Vampire Rose x1

Imp Receptionist x1

Crowd of people (swarm) x1

Yadra 

Bone Devil Guards x6

_ You are led through the rigidly organized halls to a guest room. This room is dominated equally by a large, four poster bed bedecked in black, silk sheets and a huge portrait of Asmodeus, whose painted eyes glow with judgement and menace. _

##  Both:

(If Arirani died during the climax of their gladiator performance obviously she is not on the bed and everything that mentions her below is irrelevant.)

If the “princess” didn’t suffocate in the colosseum, read the next line:  _ Already, Arirani the Oceanid is laid out on the bed, wearing a slave collar and chained down in a suggestive pose. She isn’t gasping for breath yet, but you’re sure it’s only a matter of time. _

There is a bath in this suite. It runs with the black water of Hell, but will suffice to keep Arirani alive if they come up with no other option.

Obviously they will get no better opportunity to escape, and it is clear that Arirani’s life will be measured in miserable hours if she is left in the care of the fiends and genies that dominate the City of Brass. The party can rest here if needed, but the goal is to escape.

**If a free party has or plans to negotiate to buy Ariani:** They are still tasked with the challenge of keeping her alive, but will be given the key to her slave collar when the money exchange is made. 

**If a free party has bought Ariani, plans to leave her to her fate, or she died during the show:** They may leave freely at any time after that, and may stay in this room to rest and recover their spells without consequence. When they do decide to leave, any guards or wandering fiends let them be and do not attack unless attacked first. If they get all the way back to the reception area without combat, then they are met there by Yadra who gives each player an Emissary's Sash, a blue silk sash inset with sapphires that serves as a token of safe passage in the City of Brass, and a similar token of safe passage for Avernus the First Layer of Baator and Lord Bel’s court. Also, give them XP equal to defeating Yadra in combat.

**The first obstacle for a captive party** is their slave collars. They will not start out with their gear. If they are unable to meet the DCs to remove them, Claviger is more than capable of doing so, even without tools. 

**A free party who is going to fight their way out** will still have to deal with Arirani’s collar in some way, and will not have Claviger with them. As she is a noncombatant, if she is sufficiently protected, it is possible they can get away without removing it, allowing Claviger to remove it once they’re back at the Wet Tiger. A free party who has or will negotiate for ownership of Ariani will be given a key to her collar when they leave.

After addressing the slave collar(s), the next obstacle is the locked and trapped door of the suite: a heavy, reinforced iron door (Hardness 15, 90 hp, Break DC 35) with a superior Lock of the Saved (Disable Device DC 40) (Effects of the magical lock are already part of the door’s stats) Again, Claviger is capable of meeting these DCs easily if he is present. A party without him will need to find their own means of opening it.

There are a pair of Lemures in the hall guarding the door. These cowardly devils do not stand their ground; instead, they run to raise the alarm when the door is opened.

At this point, a captive party will need to hurry to find their gear (and any animal companions). Claviger can lead them to their gear (he has mystic connections to some of his), but they’re on their own for finding animal companions. (If the party negotiated with the Thunderbird earlier instead of killing it, they will find it held captive with their animal companions / in a side room of the Embassy held under a stasis spell.)

Now it is time for the party to fight their way through the hellish embassy, which is populated by Lemures, imps, bone devils, fiendish minotaurs, and Yadra herself. Commence with the dungeon crawl! Be murder hobos! Loot everything! (B/c yeah, if they weren’t paid for their service as gladiators, they need about 100,000 gp each to play with when they get their chance to spend it at the bazaar.)

**Creatures:**

The exact number of each kind of fiend is going to be dependant on how you lay out the Embassy and how many encounters you believe your players can handle at this point. Populate the Embassy so that they must have at least three encounters as they attempt to escape. Mix and match opponents for variety. 

**Tactics:**

Yadra, as an erinyes, was built to compliment that monster’s ranged weapon focus. I gave her the feats and equipment to be wielding one of this campaign’s very few firearms, a rifle with a bayonet at the end. This made her a very scary monster to fight. She starts the fight by using her summon ability to summon more allies, then flies into a bloodrage. She shoots the players and uses her spells, focusing on the party spellcaster or healer. If she runs out of ammo or is forced into melee, she divebombs them with her bayonet. While in her bloodrage, she is incapable of surrendering or negotiating.

Other Erinyes begin the fight by using their summon ability to conjure reinforcements. After that, they stay aloft and out of the players’ easy reach. They use their spell like abilities, entangle ability, and their flaming crossbows freely. If forced into melee, they abandon the crossbows to use their longswords, but still try to entangle their opponents. If given the chance, they will hold back the killing blow on an enemy in order to inflict pain. These Erinyes flee if reduced to less than 10% their total hit points.

Bone Devils also begin a fight by using their summon ability. Then they use their quickened invisibility ability to disappear and strike at unprepared opponents. They fight to the death.

Fiendish Minotaurs are always encountered in pairs. They charge at the nearest opponent. They stay together so they cannot be flanked, or try to flank their foes. They fight to the death.

Imps (I gave mine about ten levels of fighter so they weren’t just fodder) start the fight either in their natural form or transformed into the form of a small dog. Imps in their natural form attempt to swarm their opponents, darting in to poison them, then retreating. Imps that start the fight in the form of a dog, use their larger size (and reach) to bravely engage the players in melee, flanking opponents. In both forms they attempt to surround their foes. Imps attempt to flee if reduced to less than ⅓ their starting HP. If they are incapable of fleeing, they attempt to bargain their service in exchange for their lives (a slippery proposition for good aligned characters).

Lemures either flee immediately or strike the players once and then try to flee. They are primarily mobile scenery and 13th lvl players should have no problem dispatching them in droves. 

If freed, the Thunderbird participates in any combat in its immediate vicinity, then flies away at the first opportunity. It doesn’t stick around to reward or assist the players in any way (as far as it’s concerned, it repaid the players by not killing them earlier).

Arirani does her best to stay out of combat as she is basically powerless on the Plane of Fire. She keeps at least one player between her and any fiends if possible, and if that is not possible, she outright hides.

Claviger, if he is present, engages opponents in melee, moving into flanking to deal sneak attack damage. If he is either unarmed, or armed with his own hammer, he inherently overcomes DR/good, potentially making him the party’s heavy hitter at this point. He avoids using his spells or spell-like abilities unless any of his allies are in mortal danger. He avoids transforming into his Deva form unless there is absolutely no other option.

**Loot:** if the players were paid for their services as gladiators, any loot gained escaping the Embassy should be incidental (weapons and armor looted from the bodies). If they were not, they should be allowed to regain their equipment and find additional loot equal to whatever you planned on promising them as gladiators. 

If they were captives, Claviger takes them to the Wet Tiger following their escape. The players can now spend their bounty at one of the planes’ biggest trade hubs while Claviger explains what a free party will already know about his knowing someone that can send them home -- for a price. This way they know to save some of their loot and not spend everything at the bazaar while Claviger goes to hire someone to take them to the wizard’s citadel.

No, the City of Brass guards aren’t looking for them. They escaped from the Embassy of Hell, not from a citizen. Yadra could petition to have her property recovered, but if she was killed during the escape, then she’s spending the next 500 years or so pulling her soul back together on Baator. Unless she’s alive to pursue them, the guards have no interest in harassing the players through the rest of their stay in the City of Brass. Lawful Evil has its uses.

If they didn’t have the chance to before, allow them to explore the City of Brass bazaar, the Planar Cartography Tent, and the Wet Tiger now. 


	8. Part Six: The Citadel of the Planes

**Note:** The Citadel of the Planes is an example stronghold from the Stronghold Builder’s guide, a 3rd ed D&D splatbook published by Wizards of the Coast. Pathfinder has its own stronghold building rules for players, so this book is mostly useless to a modern player, but it has details on several interesting and fantastical locations useful for any campaign. The Citadel of the Planes is actually several different buildings, each built on a different plane and connected by portals. I’ve provided descriptions of the most relevant rooms, but if you need to recreate something similar for yourself and your own game, design a manor house with several bedrooms, a foyer, a kitchen, a library, two docks, etc, then break it up so each room is on a different plane and the doors become portals between those rooms.

Claviger’s hired Nightmares (these five do good business here in the City of Brass as tour guides for people who want to visit other planes, using their plane shift ability to ferry people to “nearby” planar tourist sites) use their fly ability to show the players some beautiful plane of fire vistas, then plane shift to Elysium to show them a fantastic view of Pelor’s palace on Thalasia before setting them down near the entrance of the Citadel of the Planes.

_ The shift from here to elsewhere is gentler this time, though it leaves the scent of brimstone clinging to your clothes and skin.  _

A DC 25 Kn. The Planes check will give them the following paragraph of information:  _ Thalasia, your destination, goes by many names. The Isles of Holy Dead. The Isles of the Blessed. The Hills of Avalon. The Islands Beyond The World. The Heroic Islands. This is the lowest level of Elysium. It is the headwaters of the great River Oceanus. Though plenty of water falls from creeks and streams and rivers in the upper layers of Elysium, this is where the Great River is said to properly start. It winds through the lowest levels of several Good Aligned planes, and as such is a reliable, if long and winding, route between those planes. _

_ The Nightmares run through the air over what appears to be a great, vividly blue, sea or ocean, dotted here and there with equally bright green islands, some with white marble palaces or gleaming wizards’ towers perched on top. The scents of clean, slightly salty water, fresh pine boughs, and vibrant flowers permeates the air and fills your nostrils. You are refreshed. _

_ The largest island, which the Nightmares (or Claviger if none of the players understand Abyssal or Infernal) tell you is called Krigala, and hosts The Fortress Of The Sun, home of Pelor, dominates the landscape for hundreds of miles around. The sunlight, shining from the fortress itself, is as bright as it has ever been on the Material Plane, and yet does not obscure the view of the river of stars above. The Nightmares swoop in low, flying over orchards and vineyards and miles and miles of pristine productive farmland. They fly close enough for you to see the details of the shining gold fortress, the crystal towers, and even a faint glimpse of the god Himself holding court on the tallest, before veering away at Claviger’s direction. _

_ By comparison, the island you land on is modest and unassuming. A short, grassy hillock covered in wildflowers, there is only one man-made structure on the entire island: a disused wooden dock. Decay and rot are unknown on Elysium, so the dock is in good condition, and the single, listing ship looks salvageable. Both are covered with bright green, thornless brambles overflowing with flowers and berries, wildflowers, and thick layers of soft, damp moss. The Nightmares set down on the very end of the dock, as though reluctant to set foot on the island itself. _

_ “Oceanus, brightest of rivers,” Claviger announces as he climbs down from the Nightmare’s back. “Someplace a little more hospitable than the Plane of Fire, though some would say Elysium is  _ **_too_ ** _ hospitable. Good thing we’re not staying here long.” _

**Note:** They likely aren’t going to be here long enough to matter, but Elysium is mildly positive dominant (all creatures have fast-healing 5), strongly Good aligned (nongood characters take -2 to all Wis, Int, & Cha checks), and is uniquely dangerous for those who stay too long (Entrapping, see the Manual of the Planes or Stronghold Builder’s Guide for details).

**Note:** Within Pelor’s influence on the plane (which includes the Elysium segments of the Citadel as they sit in this campaign) all spells of the Sun domain and those with the  _ light _ descriptor are maximized, as the Maximize Spell feat. Spells of figment, pattern, and glamour subschools are impeded and require a caster level check (DC 15 + spell level) to successfully cast.

(Why can’t the Nightmares just take them home? Well these particular Nightmares are part of a  _ business. _ Businesses need licenses. And tour guides need safe passage, especially on alignment opposing planes. And as fiends — and fiends that are usually conscripted into the service of other, more powerful fiends at that — they most desperately need licenses from Hell and Heaven and other good aligned planes, and the rulers of the organized parts of the Elemental and Energy Planes, and one of the literally thousands of clauses in several of their contracts is that they cannot ferry people to the Material Plane. As they have no loyalty to the players, they have no motive to violate their contracts for them. Claviger can explain all this. The Nightmares will leave them with a business card.)

If she is with the party, the players can leave Arirani here, at the headwaters of Oceanus, and she definitely will take the time to recover here, but if she stays with them a little longer, there is an opportunity for her to be returned to the elemental plane of water.

The Citadel of the Planes is detailed in the Stronghold Builder’s guide. It has been abandoned by its previous owners and Merilin (F Mythic Arcane Ancient Solar Dragon) and her student (M Young Gold Dragon) have moved in. They are currently the Citadel’s only residents. 

The gold dragon understands and is sympathetic to the fact that humanoids are often intimidated by dragons, but he is still reluctant to fully abandon his dragon form for any reason. As a result, his compromise is to use his Alternate Form ability to take the appearance of a gold-scaled Wyvaran rather than a human or Aasimar.

_ The Nightmares confirm once again with Claviger that they won’t need the tour guides to take them to any other destinations -- perhaps a nice ride around Asmodeus’ palace, just to balance things out? -- and then leave with their payment. Their flaming hooves skim over the sparkling water as they fly as short distance, and then they plane shift away. _

_ Claviger waves at them one final time, then makes his way off of the dock and starts walking up the hill through the soft grass, which sparkles with dew. “This way,” he calls to you. _

DC 17 Will Save to pierce the illusion and see the marble staircase leading up to the palace perched on the bank of the river. +4 circumstance bonus to that save if Claviger explains the illusion to them (which he will do without prompting).

_ The rough trail you had been following rearranges itself into a staircase of white rock leading up to a small, alabaster palace, perched on the bank. Instead of a traditional roof, there is a large, clear dome that would give anyone inside a magnificent view of the surrounding vista. _

_ A figure dressed in gold robes waits at the entrance. Tall, thin, and reptilian, with gold scales, long legs and clawed feet, two sweeping, majestic wings and an inscrutable draconic visage, this humanoid seems relaxed and serene. _

_ “Welcome,” he says. “My name is Aram the Student. The Master is busy at the moment and cannot speak to you.” _

_ “We should be expected,” Claviger responds before any of you can speak. “If Merilin is busy, we’d prefer the Oakleaf Suite to the Meadow one, and room in the stables for the companions.” _

_ Aram nods his acceptance of that. “The Master will see you when her latest experiment is concluded. First, I think, a bath is in order.”  _

Aram the Student meets them at the entrance and gives them a tour, claiming his master is busy and will see them when her latest experiment is concluded. He definitely thinks they need baths before they see her!

This allows the players the opportunity to tune several tuning forks to various planes for future plane shifting. Consult the excerpt in the Stronghold Builder’s Guide for descriptions of the various rooms in the Citadel. Here’s the highlights:

**Elysium Rooms:** Dock, bedroom, dining room. 

The dock is the “room” where the Nightmares dropped off the players and has already been described. If the Citadel is occupied by its original builders, there are six xebecs, or flying ships, anchored here. The bedroom (called the Meadow Suite) has rough hewn furniture appropriately sized for a human, a large window, and a balcony. The dining room is a large open area with tables and chairs for thirty people, and instead of walls it is protected from the elements by a large, transparent dome of force that gives those inside an unhindered view of the beautiful scenery of Elysium.

Elysium traits are detailed when the players first enter the plane. 

**Arborean Rooms:** Entry platform, bedroom, botanist's study, stables. 

This part of the Citadel is a massive treehouse, and as such the portal from the trophy room on the plane of shadow is a designated entry platform rather than a hallway. The bedroom (called the Oakleaf Suite) is quite fancy, featuring intricate and delicately carved furniture and colored tapestries on the walls. The bedroom includes a small chapel to Pelor the god of the sun, and a rope elevator that connects the bedroom to the entry platform, the study, the stables, and to the forest canopy. The study contains botanical treatises, specimen jars, work tables and a small hot house designed to cultivate rare plants. The stables are at the base of the tree and are large enough to comfortably house a dozen Large steeds. Each stall has water trickling from a nearby spring, and food for herbivores in the form of edible shoots that spring from the tree itself. Six of the stalls have a  _ stable of understanding _ (or  _ speak with animals) _ effect, allowing caretakers to converse with the stall’s occupants.

Arborea is mildly good and mildly chaos aligned. Evil and Lawful characters each take a -2 penalty on all charisma based checks. Lawful Evil characters take a -4. 

**Plane of Shadow Rooms:** Entry hall, study, bedroom, kitchen. 

The entry hall contains trophies of the builder’s adventuring days. These are locked into glass cases. This is also the hub of the citadel, containing a portal to an alley in a large city on the material plane (I used Sassarine, since that was a location my players would recognize. They could choose to exit here, where they will be faced with a long, but easy journey back to their home base on Farshore), as well as portals to the citadel’s other rooms on Elysium, Arborea, the Elemental Plane of Fire, The Elemental Plane of Water, Ysgard, and the Abyss. The study is fancy and contains decorations made of ivory, and programmed images of murals. It’s otherwise empty. The bedroom contains halfling sized furniture and a large fireplace. The kitchen is large enough to accomodate thirty servants. 

Characters on the plane of shadow do not have access to either the astral or ethereal planes. Spells abilities that use those planes do not work (most notably some teleportation spells). Light and fire spells have a chance to fizzle. Shadow and darkness spells are empowered.

**Plane of Water Rooms:** changing room, bath sphere. 

The portal from the trophy room in the plane of shadow drops visitors off in the changing room, which is covered in decorative tile and has several alcoves for privacy and a door in the floor that drops down into the bath sphere. The bath sphere is a bubble of force with a hole in the top for people to climb in and out and a hole in the bottom to let fresh water in. The water is pleasantly warm and the room has an  _ airy water _ effect throughout so that non aquatic bathers can breathe the water. Schools of brightly colored tropical fish give bathers something to watch while they relax.

On the plane of water, water and ice magic are enhanced while fire magic is suppressed.

**Astral Rooms:** entrance area, library, library, magic laboratory, bedroom, arcanist’s study. 

The entrance area has walls made of chalkboards, on which are scrawled experiment schedules, messages from one resident to another, and half completed magical formulae and diagrams. The first library contains arcane, religious and planar lore books. The ceiling is painted a mural of an inky blue starry night and sliding ladders provide access to the thousands of books. The second library is painted with a canopy of grapevines and contains books on geography, history, and nobility. The mage’s laboratory is detailed in the text of the adventure. The bedroom looks vaguely organic and the walls are warm to the touch as if the room was made of skin over muscle. The furniture is moulded into the floor and seems to be part of the room and a faint throbbing, like a heart beating, can be heard. The arcanist’s study is a smaller, more comfortable version of the magical laboratory, complete with overstuffed chairs, summoning circles, and a portal to Limbo in the ceiling. A side hallway leads to a staircase that descends to a portal to Carceri.

On the astral plane, magic is enhanced and age, thirst, hunger, poison and natural healing do not function due to the plane’s timeless trait.

There’s more rooms in the citadel, but these are the ones most relevant to this adventure. 

Claviger or Aram can tell the players the history of the Citadel of the Planes (as detailed in the Stronghold Builder’s Guide or made up for your campaign).

Eventually they are finally led to the Magical Laboratory, which is on the Astral Plane. 

_ This room has all the tables, grimoires, rare spell components, and other trappings you would expect from any magic laboratory. Hexagonal in shape, the room is dominated by four engraved Circles of Protection -- one each for good, evil, law, and chaos -- providing a measure of protection during dangerous summonings.  _

_ For a moment you see the form of a regal dragon, glowing like the sun, burnished wings glowing with all the color of flame and a crown of horns decorating its head. It is too big for the room, and your mind struggles to comprehend how such a thing could be. The dragon, indifferent, gazes, transfixed up into the skylight, through which you can see eruptions of flame, crashing waves of water, tornados of air, and chunks of earth all in an ever changing, chaotic boil. _

_ Then the dragon looks at you. You feel like you have stepped into the heart of a star, you are gazing into the endless Void between worlds, you even comprehend the Beginning and the End and it is too much for you to possibly understand... _

_ Then reality shifts, settles. The room is unchanged, but the dragon -- if dragon it even was -- has been replaced by a bronze-skinned woman dressed in a gown of orange silk and starlight. Her white hair moves around her like flame, and her eyes are a solid, firey blue you feel you shouldn’t look too deeply into. _

Merilin -- who arrogantly insists on being called Merilin the Magnificent -- takes very little time to hear out their plight, then agrees to Gate them home, saying that her debt to Claviger is now paid. 

Claviger, if the players ask what he’s going to do, says he’s going to make his way back to the City of Brass, which is his home.

Merilin asks them a few questions about exactly where they need to go, and claims to have ignited that star so that life could spring from the void. She speaks fondly of the memory and expects them to be properly grateful their world isn’t a collection of lifeless dust, though she is indifferent to its current fate. She then opens the Gate effortlessly and dumps them literally on their own doorstep.


End file.
